cannot log-out from phpmyadmin in XAMPP

By default, phpMyAdmin stores the username and password for MySQL's root user in its configuration file, which is a plain text file. Since this isn't secure, it's generally considered a good practice to modify these default settings.............see below

The default location of the config file for phpMyAdmin

C:\xampp\phpMyAdmin conno. Inc.php

How to configure authentication for phpMyAdmin

1.Open the config. ine php file in a text editor such as Notepade.

  1. Set the 'blowfish secret option to a random 32 character siring. The specifies the encryption key for the cookie.

  2. Set the auth_type' option to a value of cookie.

  3. Set the 'user' and password' options to empty strings as shown below.

  4. Save your changes.

The default settings

$cfg('blownah secret') = 'xampp' /* YOU SHOULD CHANGE THIS FOR A MORE SE-
CURE COOKIE AUTH! */
/* Authentication type and info */
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'config';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['user'] = 'root';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] = '';

The settings after phpMyAdmin has been configured for authentication

$cfg('blowfish_secret') = 'Ak20vo93me201290184pb56nedIwa70';
/* Authentication type and info */
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'cookie';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['user'] = '';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] = '';

How to use phpMyAdmin to test the MySQL server and set a password

  1. Use the XAMPP Control Panel to start the Apache and MySQL servers
  2. Use the XAMPP Control Panel to start phpMyAdmin To do that, click on the Admin button for MySQL. This should start phpMyAdmin and prompt you for a username and password. If it doesn't, click the "Log out" link to display a "Login" page,
  3. Log in as the root user by specifying a username of 'root' By default, the root user doesn't have a password, so you don't need to enter one. When you successfully log in as the root user, phpMyAdmin should display its Home page. At this point, both the MySQL server and phpMyAdmin are working correctly.
  4. Click the Change Password link in the General Settings section, enter and re-enter a password, and click the Go button.
  5. Log out by clicking the Log Out icon near the upper left corner of the page, and then log back in using the new password.

just change this line on config.inc.php

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'config';

to

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'cookie';

then you will be prompted to login when you refreshed the page. Afterwards, the log out icon will appear next to home icon.